Friends in the Kitchen – Julie’s Bara Brith

Julie’s Bara Brith is easy to make and tastes delicious, making it a perfect recipe to share on Recipes Made Easy. And what perfect timing to share this traditional Welsh cake as it’s St. David’s (patron saint of Wales) day on 1st March. So sit back, relax, have a cup of tea and read all about Julie’s Bara Brith.

This is my fourth visit to a friend’s kitchen to shoot for my Friends in the Kitchen series of posts. It is, however, tinged with a little sadness. After 25 years in London, Julie moved back to Wales this weekend to start a new job on Wednesday. I first met Julie a few years back when she joined our local dinner party club. Little Welsh Julie made up for what she lacked in stature with her bubbly personality and her love of all things sparkly. We are surely going to miss her at our future get togethers.

Julie’s Bara Brith

Being the lovely sociable girl that she is she managed to find time and space between packing boxes for me to pop along while she made a loaf of Bara Brith. The recipe she used was based on this recipe from the Visit Wales website. She explained to me how, while the original Bara Brith recipe was made with yeast, this unyeasted version is used by many as it is far simpler to make. “I know my aunty would never have bothered with yeast” she told me. She also explained to me that when growing up she always remembered that most Welsh households would have a Bara Brith in the fridge ready just in case anyone came to call. Which they usually did. It would be considered rude not to offer a cup of tea and something to go with it.

Easy to make

It really didn’t take long to make up the cake. The fruit needs to be soaked overnight in tea, which Julie had done the night before. Then it was just a case of stirring in the flour, mixed spice, sugar and eggs. Spoon the mixture into a loaf tin, and into the oven to bake for about 1 hour. Time for a cup of tea!

“Sorry” she says. “I haven’t got any cake to eat. You will have to wait” she laughs.

And so we do, it’s not that long before some delicious aromas are coming from the oven.

Despite being in the middle of packing, Julie managed to find some pretty cups and saucers and plates to serve the Bara Brith. We put it out on the balcony to speed up the cooling process and, as it was reasonably nice day, we decided to take the final pictures there. No chance of a removal box sneaking into the picture that way.

Bara brith will keep well

Bara Brith should be stored for two days for the flavours to mature. There was no chance that was going to happen. As soon as it was cold enough, we sliced it and I can assure you it tastes pretty darn good while still slightly warm, as well as a couple of days later (I took some home with me just to make sure. It’s important to do proper research!). Apparently you can keep it for up to 7 days but I wouldn’t know as the piece I took home barely lasted the two days, it was so good. We did follow the Welsh tradition of serving it spread with plenty of butter – I liked it with and without butter. Just saying Julie!

Just so easy. I made two, one for a bake sale and one for us. Just had a couple of slices with butter and a cup of tea. Hubby loved it too. I had a tub of glacé cherries which needed using up, so put them in too. Gorgeous.

Made this recipe in December made two and froze one to be eaten at a later date it was really nice.
I’ve just soaked the fruit so I can make another two cakes tomorrow .
It only takes about fifteen minutes to makes.

What a great recipe! I love how easy this is to make and how lovely it turns out every time. I make this Bara Brith every few weeks and it is always popular. Thank you for a great recipe that is easy to follow with great photos too!

Not sure what Demerara sugar is? I’m in the US so have no idea. This looks very good. My Grandmother made an applesauce cake with raisins in it— had to use 1 cup of raisins and 1 cup of water simmered until water was gone. This recipe reminded me of that. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Janice Apologies in the time it has taken to reply. Demerara is a type of brown sugar. Generally speaking, “golden” brown sugar has a light, delicate flavour without the heavy molasses notes of darker brown sugars. Regular brown sugar is dark and moist and is used for tasks where you want more of a molasses kick. Demerara sugar is darker still, with large crystals that give it a crunchy texture. In this case you could substitute either light brown sugar or granulated sugar.

Hi Nancy
Mixed spice, also called pudding spice, is a British blend of sweet spices, similar to the pumpkin pie spice used in the United States. Cinnamon is the dominant flavour, with nutmeg and allspice.

Hi Terry, The flour and other ingredients are added to the bowl of the fruit (step 3) and not the fruit to the flour etc (so no you do not drain it, most of the tea will have been absorbed into the fruit). sorry, it wasn’t clear to you. I have reworded step 3 slightly to make it clearer in the future.

You might know it as Pumpkin spice. Mixed spices usually conatains cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice cloves etc. The spice mix will vary according to brands but theres a recipe on the BBC Good Food site if you want to make your own https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/181605/mixed-spice

This cake looks lovely, Jacqui, full of fruit, spice and tea! I love the idea of soaking the fruit in strong tea! I am sure it tastes amazing! And I love the fact there are so few ingredients in this recipe.